They are ‘quaternary twins’
Two sets of identical twin sisters and brothers who married each other have had baby boys who are brothers and cousins at the same time.
Virginia-based twins Briana and Brittany Deane, both 25, married identical twins Josh and Jeremy Salyers in 2018, after meeting them at a twin festival the year before.
Both women became pregnant at the same time and gave birth to sons who, as sons of two sets of identical twins, are genetically similar enough to be both brothers and cousins.
Brittany gave birth to baby Jett in January 2021, while her sister Briana gave birth to baby Jax in April of the same year.
The two boys are known as “quaternary twins”, the term given to the offspring of couples made up of two sets of identical twins.
Because identical twins share the same DNA, and the babies were both ‘created’ from the exact same sets of DNA, they are genetically similar enough to be both cousins and genetic brothers.
The families are reportedly two of 300 quaternary families in the world, the Independent reported back in 2022.
Speaking to NBC News, Brittany said: “They were born to identical twin parents less than nine months apart. Twins married to twins who both have babies at the same time.”
The two sets of couple have an Instagram page where they share updates from their lives with followers.
It was a deliberate ploy for Jax and Jett to be born around the same time as well. Speaking on TLC documentary Our Twinsane Wedding back in 2019, Jeremy said: “We want to have twins, and we want them to be born on the same day… We’ll be raising our families together as well. That’s something we’re all on the same page about too.”
